The court of world opinion has already decided

Cyprus Mail

Now that the judgement on the Conor O’Dwyer assault case has been handed down, many people around the world will be drawing their own conclusions about the quality and integrity of the Cyprus justice system.

The Sunday Mail editorial opinion on the ramifications was spot-on. In many respects, the judgement, light sentences and judge’s comments seeking to blame the victim for being beaten up have become somewhat irrelevant in the wider scheme of things.

For, the Court of World Opinion had already delivered its own judgement and was already administering its own collective punishment. The particular defendant company will be lucky to survive, given the extent of the global media antipathy towards the defendants.

Whatever the public position of the Cyprus establishment in apparently supporting errant developers in general in their appalling and often fraudulent treatment of buyers, they are now definitely feeling the pain of the consequences. The entire property industry and the economy as a whole will continue to be punished by the on-going failure to correct the title deeds-cum-fraud scandal. The latest Conor O’Dwyer judgement will simply ensure that foreign buyers do not return for some years, even if the government took drastic corrective action today.

All trust and confidence has gone. The boycott by foreign buyers may even be permanent.

Dr Alan Waring, Larnaca
November 11th 2010